Chapter 6 – The Natural Flag-raiser and the Saviour and the Prince (3)

“Good morning, Makoto.”

Unbelievably, Prince’s seat was in front of mine. Next to me was Soutarou and during break time Kaname would come over. Could it be this was originally Mitsuki’s seat?

Prince gave a greeting expressionlessly. Ever since I saved him from the delinquents the week before, for some reason Prince started speaking to me more.

It seems like Prince was by nature the type who doesn’t have many friends. There was somewhat an uproar when we first conversed. It was when the news of that Prince talking to a commoner made its way through the school.

“Ah, good morning, Kiritani.”

Prince took his seat and stared at me hard enough to bore a hole through my face.

Nothing will come out even if you stare at me so much, you know.

“I will be going for the training camp tomorrow too.”

The ears of the surrounding girls who were eavesdropping pricked up and they started a racket, going kya kya.

They probably didn’t expect that the Prince with no sense of cooperation would actually participate in the training camp. Since he doesn’t even come to school ordinarily.

“I see. The girls are delighted that you’ll be attending.”

“Who cares about them. More importantly, I want to be in the same group as Makoto.”

Is it that? He never had friends before so he’s embarrassed when he does something that friends do. Like inviting a friend to group up for the training camp.

It can’t be that the subject of the Prince’s love is a guy, right. After all, he’s the prince of an otome game. That the prince of an otome game would fall in love with another guy is impossible.

The Prince whose face had a serious look even when his cheeks were dyed was truly the Prince.

His hair is immaculate right down to the very strand, his complexion is fair and the components of his face are arranged so perfectly that they aren’t off by even 1 mm.

“Ah, I don’t particularly mind.”

“Me too! I, too…… want to be in the same group as Makoto……”

Next to me, Soutarou who had been docily listening to our conversation, interrupted while pulling at the hem of my clothes, gazing at me with upturned eyes.

What’s this. Is it trendy for boys to blush at other guys these days? I reflexively froze with widened eyes.

I can spot dog ears on Soutarou’s head. I can spot dog ears that are standing. It seems I’m weak to this face that Soutarou makes. It makes me want to listen to anything he says.

“Makoto, look over here.”

“Ha? Wa, Kiritani.”

“Makoto.”

Prince’s face gradually edged closer as he leaned on the table.

I grabbed his wrist with the meaning of you’re too close, go a bit further. However, the Prince didn’t move away. Instead, he came closer and closer until it became a surreal situation where the tip of his nose was a mere 10 cm away.

Uwaaー…… what a pretty face. There’s also a very nice smell. I wonder what smell is that? It causes one to be spellbound. Hang on, it’s not the time to be thinking of such things.

“Wait, Mako is troubled. Kiritani, please calm down……!”

Overwrought, Soutarou used his huge palm to cover my mouth.

“I am calm.”

Being pulled behind like this is kind of painful. But it seems this isn’t the kind of situation where I can say that. I shall remain silent.

“Mako-chan, what are you doing with flowers in both handsー?”

Kaname approached us with a wry smile. However, I can’t even speak with Soutarou’s hand on my mouth.

Soutarou was hugging me tightly. Meanwhile, with his hand on my chin, Prince brought his face closer until a proximate distance. On top of that, because they continued their glaring bout with me in between, I feel all jittery.

The students in the class were all eyeballing us with small smiles. It’s only the 2nd week since I transferred but I have a bad premonition that my classmates already stuck me with a weird label.

“Fujisaki, go over there.”

“Oh, that’s what Prince says but what should I do, Mako-chan?”

I realised recently that the one with the most common sense amongst my friends is Kaname. There’s no doubt that if he doesn’t rescue me, this situation would persist until class starts. That’s troubling. In an unpleasant way I’m finding it hard to breathe, and the encompassing gazes are painful.

I sent Kaname a glare that says help me. With a “good grief”, Kaname shrugged.

“Hey there, Prince and Souta should let go of Mako-chan. A group can have 6 people so you don’t have to fight.”

Kaname pushed Prince and Soutarou away and saved me.

Soutarou clearly appeared very down, folding his huge body into a ball while looking at me. The Prince scowled at Kaname like a stray cat whose meal had been delayed.

“Thanks, Kaname.”

My stomach would have given up from the awkwardness if Kaname didn’t save me.

“No prob’. I understand Souta and Prince like Mako-chan, but there’s no point if you trouble him, rightー?”

“Mako, I’m sorry…… did it hurt?”

Soutarou looked at me the way a dog who had been scolded would.

“Nah, it’s fine since I’m sturdy. It’s just that the surrounding gazes were painful.”

I began to stroke Soutarou’s head unconsciously. Initially I was worried that he might not like it, but it was a needless concern.

Very quickly, his cheeks turned slightly pink and his eyes lowered as though he was embarrassed. What’s with the ‘innocent young maiden’-like reaction. This guy is possibly even more feminine than me.

“Makoto!”

Grabbing the arm of me who had been stroking Soutarou’s head, the Prince glared at me with his vivid eyes.

Even if you glare at me with a face like that, I don’t know what you want if you don’t say anything besides my name. How troubling. I stopped stroking Soutarou’s head and turned towards the Prince.

“What’s wrong, Kiritani?”

“……”

There’s no response. It’s the usual Prince.

“Kiritani, I won’t understand if you don’t say anything? Why are you angry? Or are you sulking?”

With his usual face that doesn’t express much emotion, the Prince softly murmured.

“Because……, ever since just now…… Makoto……”

“Un? I’m sorry, Kiritani, I can’t hear you.”

The Prince definitely murmured just now, but with such a soft voice, I can’t hear him well.

Despite his voice being so soft that it was almost inaudible, because those pair of crystal clear eyes that reminds one of the sky were fixedly staring at me so sharply, I can’t help feeling jittery. Isn’t it precisely because he’s the Prince that he can make people want to listen to him just with his eyes?

“Because Makoto has only been paying attention to that guy ever since just now.”

Erm, could it possibly be he’s jealous?

Isn’t this too fast? In normal otome games one would usually have to spend a lot of effort to raise a favourable impression?

I’ve only been here for 2 weeks, and only knew Prince for barely a week, is it okay to get dere so easily? Prince, you need to work harder.

“Oh…… Prince, you’re quite aggressive~”

I felt a bit of irritation towards Kaname who spoke like he’s impressed. He has it easy, thinking it’s someone else’s business.

“It’s not being aggressive or whatever. I just want to get along better with Makoto.”

You meant that in a friendship way, right? It’s okay for me to interpret it that way, right?

I’ll be troubled if it’s not like that, I smiled trying to convey my feelings.

But getting along well with Prince is a good thing. If I get along well with him, the encounter rate between Prince and Mitsuki will naturally go up. This way, love will gradually sprout between them. After all, Mitsuki is the heroine.

“I also want to get along with Kiritani. Let’s be in the same group tomorrow, alright?”

It’ll be perfect if I add Mitsuki into the group that Prince, Kaname, Soutarou and I are it. It’s impossible that some event will not occur during the training camp. No matter what, if I close the gap between Prince and Mitsuki, a heart-throb love revolution will definitely take place.

Now that it’s decided, I have to raise Mitsuki’s specs! There’s no way she can move Prince’s heart if I don’t do something about her chemical weapon-like cooking,.

The training camp tomorrow is my first big step towards returning to the other side.

Thinking of it that way, the training camp I was feeling depressed about suddenly appears more exciting.